


Kresnik

by solarpillar (solarwind)



Category: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-06
Updated: 2015-01-06
Packaged: 2018-03-06 08:25:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3127781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solarwind/pseuds/solarpillar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mari was human once. She is a Kresnik now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kresnik

**Author's Note:**

  * For [o0whitelily0o](https://archiveofourown.org/users/o0whitelily0o/gifts).



Mari was a human once.

She was once a teacher, a nurse, a lover, a vessel, the slayer of a vampire, the sister figure to a young man, the mother figure to a boy.

Mari is a Kresnik now.

When Kresnik presented himself to her, she thought it was his name. Now she knows it was a title. Many Kresniks, guarding many towns, many souls.

When god was casting shadow with his hostile light, demons were mere shades, many duplicates, moving from what could be described as hive mind. Now that god is gone. Kazuya and Naoya are casting a different light, and demons are living, their minds unique to individuals.

So, once again, there are many Kresniks. They guard the barriers. They kill kudlaks. They patrol most worlds, their swords ready.

It took Mari a while to find her Kresnik.

He is still the same, in a way, stoic and careful, though somewhat clumsy. The way he pretends to be cool while losing his sword and snuffbox and dives into trash bins to search for them reminds her too much of her previous lover, and it made her wonder if he is indeed him, the older Nikaido. She watches as he runs off, in the form of a white wolf, in the dusty summer street chasing his bus, and wonders if she should ask.

She doesn’t ask. Dead men should rest.

Dead men shouldn’t talk.

(And it’s the same for herself.)

 

Mari was a human once. 

She was once a human, followed the young siblings to a path of chaos and change. She doesn’t regret it. After all, there are many changes long overdue, and with power they can happen faster, better, and less victims for it. She discarded her humanity as easily and as decidedly as Kazuya.

Mari is a Kresnik now. She cures and heals as much as she slashes and stabs, and both are necessary for a healthy society. After all, the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of healing was also a goddess of war, scalpel in hand, held like a weapon, for healing is but a war against something at time smaller and bigger, sometimes more abstract than living people.

As a white crow, she soars above the land she once called home. It has changed little. Naoya is firm believer of humanity, after all, believe that they would change if given the freedom. It does change, but slowly. 

His new worlds however, change much faster. 

Inertia, probably. Or genetics. Mari isn’t sure. She can’t remember much of the Physics and Biology and all, her textbooks already recycled a hundred times, discard when she no longer needed them.

She hasn’t tutored a child for a very long time now. 

(Naoya, on the other hand, is running five kindergartens at once.)

She hadn’t found a single kudlak for a very long time, either.

(Kazuya, on the other hand, is fighting against Naoya’s overgrown wild strawberries.)

She sees him again, the Kresnik of the Lockdown, a letter in hand, resignation on his face.

(Is that a lay-off notice? It seems to be.)

Twenty-six Kresniks had received lay-off notices this week. 

(Mari isn’t one of them.)

She pokes him with the back of her sword.

“Need a lift?” She asked, pointing at her car parked in the employee-reserved slot.

He doesn’t say a word, but he nods and sits in her car as fast as he can, before stuffing the letter in his pocket.

Mari doesn’t understand how he already found a job interview. Must have known his lay-off for a while now.

(She finds a promotion notice in her mailbox the same night.)

 

Mari was a human once.

Mari liked cars. Demons have little use of them, but human society evolved with cars. Mari’s car is bright red, a sport car with retractable hood and somewhat vintage look. 

“Didn’t know that you liked this kind of car,” he commented. 

Mari didn’t have a kind of car, beside the practical kind. Nikaido used to want a bright red car, the kind bad boys pick up girls with, and he’d want to drive the car to Mari’s work and pick only her. But they didn’t save enough money for a car back then, and they sat in public transit dreaming of one.

Mari is rich enough to keep five cars now. She bought this bright red sport car for him, that practical silver jeep for herself, this minivan for his parents that she no longer sees, that high-tech camper for her own parents that she no longer sees, this eco autodrive smart for the child she once dreamt to have. The last one doesn’t even need a permit to drive.

Kresnik is borrowing that one.

The night he leaves, she dreams that she is driving her silver jeep on a lake as clear as mirror, her Nikaido listening to rap music next to her, watching her drive and smile.

She wakes to Kresnik knocking at her window, her garm struggling to bite him, the pole where the dog is tied bent to seventy degrees, the tails of his coat in the persistent dog’s jaws. He is almost falling off, the tips of his shoes digging into the window frame. Another bark and jerk, and he falls.

Yep.

Mari hasn’t used her healing skills for a very long time, but they work as well as always.

 

Mari was a lover once. But never married.

Tadashi grew up faster than she thought. He married a strong and brash woman, and though he complained, he stayed with her till the end. 

Atsuro grew up less fast, and stayed mostly innocent. He was also the kind that liked strong woman, though he didn’t stay married long.

Kazuya… Is Naoya his husband now? Could be another rumour. This boy used to flirt with girls, who knows what happened.

Amane married for practical reason, power and genetics, and the current leader is still strong and charismatic. 

Midori, well, humans say she is a demon now. Demons call her a mythological figure. Frosties have shrines of her.

 

Kresnik shows up one day, a diamond ring in his hand and one knee on the ground.

 

Mari smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> ~~Then she gives birth to a child with a pocket watch.~~


End file.
